What Happens In The Jungle At Night
by jessng
Summary: Unexpected things happen at night. Ralph could not agree with that more.
1. Chapter 1

Ralph's eyes shot open at the scream of a littlun. As a reflex, he got up and tried to leave his shelter as silently as possible so that Piggy and Simon, who were sleeping peacefully inside could have their rest. He approached the shelter where the sound came from and tapped on the screaming littlun's shoulder. It was Percival. The boy woke up, rubbed his eyes with his hand and looked at Ralph.

"You were screaming. What happened?" This question had became Ralph's routine.

"I had a nightmare, of the beastie." The boy whimpered, then, his eyes were filled with tears. "Ralph, I'm scared, will it come to get me?"

"No it won't, I guess." Ralph whispered the last part, then hushed the boy to sleep. He silently stood up, not anymore feeling the desire to sleep. He turned his heels and walked to the direction of the jungle.

The woods were especially quiet at night. Outside, the waves were crashing into the shore. Somewhere close to Ralph's ears, cicadas were crying. He tried to watch his feet, but in the dark, it was no use. The soil was surprisingly soft now that he had time to actually feel it. Ralph could hear his own footsteps, and when he stepped on a twig, breaking it, he jumped. The thoughts of the beast annoyed him. He knew there were no beasts, but he just could not prove it, even to himself. He heard a plopping sound coming from somewhere in the jungle. He jumped at that, too. Ralph looked around, trying to make out the figures that were the trees and the creepers in the dark. He followed the plopping noise through the jungle. At one point, it sounded more vivid, at another, it was faint. And at some points, Ralph bumped into a tree. The noise led him to a clearing where there was a small pond with a small frog jumping around, and some rocks and pebbles lied piling on top of each other, and Roger.

The dark-haired boy was throwing small rocks and pebbles on the water. They skipped on the surface for about three to four times before falling into the water, creating a "plop". Roger's head was bobbing up and down slightly, his dark gray eyes with dark circles underneath them were close to shutting a few times, but when they did shut, they suddenly opened again. Ralph emerged from behind a tree, his feet stepped on the noisy dry leaves and broken twigs, alarming Roger. Despite having shown no signs of harm, Ralph's sudden appearance made Roger jump. The black-haired boy stared at him, his eyes opening wide and his shoulder slightly shivered. Clearly, he was panicking. Ralph stopped and stood still. He put both his hands up, signaling that he meant no harm. The blonde slowly moved towards the pond and sat on the opposite side to Roger. The other boy stared at him, as if he was waiting for him to start the conversation first.

Ralph stared at his toes. In this part of the jungle, the sounds of the cicadas and the waves were especially faint. The moon above draped a curtain of cold light on the two sleepless boy figures next to the pond. Running a hand through his fair hair, Ralph then moved his gaze to the jungle in front of him. The jungle at night was far different from the morning. The wind blowing through it was a little more pleasant, and cooler too. At night, there was not as much noise as in the morning. There was only the faint cry of cicadas and the sound of the waves rushing to the beach. In the morning, there was the wave's noise, and the sound of the children screaming, and the frequent cries of seagulls, and the shouts and chants of Jack and his hunters, and the arguments, and– Ralph concluded that it was much more peaceful at night. Then, he saw two thin and pale legs approaching him. The other boy knelt before Ralph and took his hands out of his mouth. Now that Ralph had realized he had been biting his nails, his cheeks went crimson. He noticed the intense gaze that was Roger's was still fixated on him. The thin lips parted a little and Roger's voice was small, raspy, and almost unrecognizable.

"Don't bite your nails. It's–" His eyes tried to find something else to focus into beside Ralph and his brain was trying to search for the right word in the mess that was his memory. He finally settled on a word "–bad."

Ralph's cheeks were still red and oddly warm. Roger's breath tickled his face. He felt weird.


	2. Chapter 2

_**"Just close your eyes, the sun is going down**_

 _ **You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now."**_

\- _Safe and Sound_ , Taylor Swift

* * *

The stare lasted for an uncomfortable and awkward one minute. Ralph silently cursed his uncooperative mouth, and Roger was only being his silent and mysterious self. Both boys had some red staining their cheeks. The cicadas chose that exact moment to stop crying, leaving the boys with the loud thumping of their hearts that were unusually excited. Roger backed away first, but had not yet let go of Ralph's hands, for fear that he might bite his nails again. Ralph opened his mouth to say something, but shut it as he had nothing to say. Another long and awkward minute passed.

It was weird of Roger though. He normally did not care about others, not even Jack, who Ralph thought would be the closest to him. He usually, if not always, waited for other people to initiate a conversation before starting to talk. The only exception, to Ralph, would be that time in the first assembly, when he interrupted Jack's gloating about being able to sing C sharp to propose the vote for chief. Outside of that, Ralph could not remember any other times he had heard Roger's voice.

Ralph asked himself if he had actually noticed Roger that much, and he found the other boy still staring at him. He forced his mouth open and tried to think of something to say.

"Go back to sleep." Roger was, surprisingly, the first one to speak.

"I'm not sleepy." Ralph automatically replied. It was true, though, that he did not feel like sleeping anymore.

Roger was silent again. He was playing with a rock that he had picked up from the ground, but he would sometimes glance up at Ralph. The dark circles under his eyes triggered Ralph's curiosity.

"Why aren't you sleeping then?" He decided to ask. Roger had sat down on the ground in front of Ralph. He shifted his focus from the rock to the blonde's face.

"Can't."

That one-worded answer made Ralph a little more curious. He stared at his hands that were so close to his mouth he felt like he could put them back in it anytime. The boys stared at each other again. The awkwardness from earlier that was beginning to die down rose back up. It was weird what Roger's intense and constant stare made Ralph feel. It was silent again, and the cicadas were still refusing to make any sound, not that it would help anyway. Ralph's eyes were fixated on the bridge of the other's nose, where a small scar lied horizontally. Ralph had always thought Roger looked like that boy porcelain doll his father bought in Russia, minus the scars. Now that he had noticed it, there were many scars on the boy's strangely pale skin. His eyes were dark gray in color and his lips were thin. There was another scar, a long one running down from his forehead and lied on top of his left brow. His neck was small and his shoulders were narrow. Ralph wondered what the boy had done to get that many scars, and realized he had been scrutinizing Roger again. He blushed and hoped that the other boy did not notice it. He remembered his curiosity of Roger's dark circles.

"Why can't you sleep?" He asked without another second of hesitation.

Roger did not answer to this one. He looked down to the ground, trembling terribly. Ralph was surprised by Roger's sudden change of attitude.

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it if–"

"Because I see him every time."

The answer made Ralph jump. He ran a hand through his hair to get it off his face, then took Roger's shaking hands and tried to calm them down. He did not exactly know what to do in this situation, so he just did what he thought would work.

"Who is 'him'?"

"Papa."

"Your father?"

"What is a father?"

Ralph froze. He stared at Roger solemnly. His brows furrowed.

"What did he do to you?"

"He beat me, like what Jack does to the bushes when he can't hunt a pig. He put me in a cage like what people do to dogs that misbehave. He sometimes fed me cold food. Other times, he didn't. H–" Roger's voice was cut off by his shaky lips that did not allow him to speak more. He lowered his head, but no tears came out.

Ralph wrapped his arms around the trembling body, his eyes were focusing on nothing in particular, but he just kept staring forward.

"Why are you squeezing me with your body?"

Ralph squeezed Roger even tighter.

"It's a hug, Roger. Mummy usually did this to me when I was feeling down, and Daddy, too."

"What is a 'Mummy'?"

The knot in Ralph's stomach tightened. He felt himself shaking and on the verge of tears. He did not know why, but he wanted to cry, for Roger. The other boy had stopped trembling and started looking at the space behind Ralph, puzzled. Why was Ralph shaking?

Was it because of him?

Did the "hug" transfer his pain to Ralph?

Roger pushed Ralph away. The blond boy was dumbfounded for a moment. His ocean blue eyes were red and teary, and Roger stared at them. Did he hurt Ralph?

"I'm sorry." He said, his lips started shivering as he repeated the phrase over and over again.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, I wasn't hurt."

"You were shaking because you hugged me. And you were crying."

"Roger, no, it wasn't your fault. I'm just.. having these weird feelings inside of me that I need to let out, that's all."

They were silent again, the cicadas finally started making their sounds. Both boys had no idea what time it was, but the silence seemed like an eternity. Ralph did not move at all and Roger kept mouthing his apology. The small frog jumped, giving them both a heart attack. He saw Roger's head bobbing again. His eyes were close to shutting but snapped open again, and then they shut, opened, shut, opened. Ralph knew he did not want to see "him". He gazed at Roger somberly.

"Roger, do you want to try something?" Ralph spoke up. The sudden sound startled Roger.

The other boy nodded, clearly looking guilty from what he thought he had just done previously. Ralph sat, his back leaning on a tree, and he called Roger over, addressing the boy on his lap. The black-haired boy stood up hesitantly, but did what he was told anyway, half because he was curious of what Ralph wanted to try on him, half because the blond boy was the only one he had respect for on the island. When Roger's weight descended on Ralph, he realized that the boy was light, extremely light. He took a deep breath, and wrapped both his arms around the thin frame again, making Roger gasp in surprise and tried to push him off. Ralph held him down, rocking his body back and forth.

"Now close your eyes." He instructed. His voice was small and quiet, and his eyes were so gentle they had persuaded Roger into slowly closing his. "I want you to think about me before your eyes close completely. Just think about me, and when you close your eyes, just remember that I'm there. I won't let him touch you, never will, okay?"

Roger gave a small nod before the darkness draped over his vision completely. The man was there, but he did not open his eyes this time. He thought and thought about Ralph, about how the blond hair flew free in the wind, how the gentle blue eyes matched the color of the ocean, how that smile warmed him up to the core, and how that one person was holding him, rocking him back and forth, giving him feelings he never had before. The angry man slowly faded away, and he saw Ralph, standing there in the sunshine.

"Mummy used to do this to me when I had nightmares. It made the monsters go away."

Roger did not want to sleep just yet, despite not having a proper's night sleep in a long time. He curled up in Ralph's embrace, letting the other boy stroke his hair and face gingerly. A small song was echoing in his ears, and he realized that it was Ralph's voice. Something with "you'll be alright", and "no one can hurt you now". For the first time, he knew it was the truth, because he knew he was safe in Ralph's arms.

"I like you Ralph." The voice was small as a whisper. It was the third, no, the fourth time Roger started a conversation with another person.

Ralph froze at the confession, then kept on rocking himself and Roger back and forth. He noticed how the other boy liked the rocking motion. He guessed it was what made him feel safe and protected.

"Why?" Ralph whispered back.

"Because you're nice to me. Others aren't."

"Simon–"

"He's nice to everyone. He's batty. He doesn't count. I meant you. You're not nice to everyone, but out of all the ones you choose to be nice to, you chose me. And for that I like you." Roger yawned, his voice got smaller towards the end of the sentence, and he finally dozed off.

Ralph said nothing, and continued the song. He never liked to sing, it reminded him of his mother and how she used to sing to him while rocking him to help him sleep. Her voice was angelic and soothing. It was one of his memories of her before she left.

He looked down to the already sleeping Roger and laid a gentle kiss on his temple. He was surprised with what he had done, but then decided that the other needed it. He took a breath before singing the last line of the song. Ralph felt like an angel was sitting next to him, singing with him. Her voice was so sweet and angelic it drove him close to sleep.

"You and I'll be safe and sound."

The fair boy stood up, holding the sleeping body in his arms. He was light, like a black and white feather. So fragile. It was as if he would break when Ralph dropped him.

If he dropped Roger, would he break?

Ralph decided that he would never try it.

* * *

 **Yes, I casually added a Taylor Swift song because I can.**


	3. Chapter 3

The ululation echoed across the burning island as Ralph sprinted as fast as his feet could carry him. He tried as best as he could not to bump into the trees on his way and headed towards the beach. All he could hope was for a ship from faraway to see the smoke and get attracted to the smoke from the island that was burning down. The gap between him and his way out of the jungle closed in. He reached his hand out, as if his salvation was lying in front of his face. A tree's root that had grown above the ground made him trip and fall down, flopping his face into the hot sand, possibly fracturing his ankle. With the adrenaline still rushing through his veins, Ralph crawled his way out of the jungle.

There were no ships, and no hope.

Soon, Ralph was surrounded by Jack and his hunters, each carrying a spear. He glimpsed a stick sharpened at both ends, and Samneric's words reverberated in his head. _Roger_. He stared as the redheaded leader loomed over him. The hunters' masks of red and white danced around above his head. Maybe if he closed his eyes, his death would go by much faster than he imagined. His body completely gave in to the exhaustion and fell limp as he forced his eyes shut, waiting for the spears to descend.

They never did.

Ralph was too tired to even care now. He lied there, appearing dead, but when something like a finger was put in front of his nose to check, he was confirmed to still be alive. He heard someone, Jack, ordering the former choirboys, Harold, Maurice, Robert, and Roger, to tie him up and carry him back to Castle Rock and the rest, including the littluns to get water and stop the fire. The orders sounded distant in Ralph's ears as he slowly slipped out of his consciousness. He could vaguely hear their conversation, apparently about what to do to him after they had had him at Castle Rock.

"He shall become my slave, no objection, but will be locked up in that small cave we found earlier," the Chief said, "I will assign someone to bring food and water to him and guard him, too."

"But what will he do as your slave?" Someone, sounding like Robert or Maurice, asked.

"Things."

"What kinds of things?" The person asked again.

"Things you don't need to know about." Their leader sounded like he was about to snap.

The other boys shut up. Even though the Chief was currently satisfied with his victory, they knew better than to keep bothering him by bringing up the subject. They silently carried the limp blonde back to Castle Rock with Roger looking oddly solemn.

* * *

It was obvious that a gentle treatment was not available for Ralph, as he was woken up by two slaps on his face and a coconut full of cold water splashed on him. It was pitch black outside, but Ralph knew well who was waking him up. Who could it have been other than Jack Merridew himself?

Ralph sat up, his hands still bound behind his back, and leaned on the cave's wall for support. He glimpsed someone else standing behind Jack, but hidden, only a part of the dark hair was visible. Jack crouched and got inside of the cave. He tossed a half-raw chunk of meat at Ralph, signaling for him to eat. Ralph meant to decline the meat, but his hunger betrayed him, giving him zero resistance, so he grabbed the meat and gnawed at the cooked part.

"Roger, guard the cave." Jack turned around and ordered, then faced Ralph again.

"What do you want?" The blond boy said, his voice was raspy from dehydration. Drops of water were still trickling down his face and neck. His golden hair stuck to his forehead with liquid.

"Let's just say that you have officially become my slave." Jack smirked at the expression Ralph's face had contorted into.

"It's non-consensual." He argued, eyeing the black-haired guard outside, who was glancing back at him. He decided that it was not the best if Roger, by any chance, was eavesdropping their conversation, which actually was not his fault, since the whole argument just happened to be within his earshot.

"Who needs your consent anyway? You're nothing now," Jack only stared at Ralph, not at all minding the fact that Roger might be hearing what they were going to talk about, which was something quite inappropriate. "You're nothing." He said it again as a reaffirmation, then added, "but my slave."

Ralph bit his lip and tried to hold in his anger. He put down the piece of meat of which the cooked part had already been eaten. He wanted so bad to punch the one in front of him repeatedly in the face, then bash his head to the wall until he was nothing but a mess of brain and blood, like _Piggy_. Ralph flinched at the remembrance of his good, wise friend, then shuddered at the thought of the one who had murdered him, Roger. Roger, the one he once held so tenderly in his arms, the one he was so afraid that he would drop, the one he sang a lullaby to, the fragile one, killed his best friend on th–

A slap from Jack pulled him out of those thoughts.

"Why weren't you paying attention, Ralph?" He asked, on his face was a dark scowl. Ralph said nothing and kept his gaze fixated on the ground. "I said as my slave, you would have to obey every of my commands. You will sit where I tell you, eat and drink when I tell you, sleep when I tell you, and have sex with me when I tell you."

Ralph's face, against his will, went four different shades of red.

"H-have sex?"

"Yes. Haven't you heard of that? How old are you anyway?" Jack seemed disappointed, and not minding at all that a younger boy was within earshot.

"I have heard, but–" Ralph bit his lip again "–isn't it between a man and a woman?"

"You're the closest to a girl here."

"But it still doesn't–"

"It will work, because I say so." Jack interfered Ralph's sentence to announce his verdict. "You can't say no."

"But it's non-consensual!"

"Again, who cares what you think anyway?" The redhead spat coldly, then, with no other words, exit the cave. He turned around. "Roger will watch you at night and bring you food and water. In the morning, you will be watched by each of my hunters respectively. Try and escape, and I'll show you." With that, he was gone.

Ralph waited for a long time before he could relax again. He saw Roger slowly turning around, facing him, his face completely free of the paint. The dark gray eyes were sparkling with water. The boy crawled into the cave, sitting where Jack had sat, and handed Ralph a coconut shell filled to the brink with water. Ralph took it and drank without hesitation.

"I'm sorry." Roger mumbled. He looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The continuous apologies flowed out of his mouth.

"For what?" Ralph had, for a moment, forgotten about Piggy's gruesome death and just desperately wanted to hug the small boy in front of him.

Who had taught him to look so miserable and heartbroken anyway?

"About Piggy, and joining Jack, and S– and _him_."

The memories flooded into Ralph at the mention, and he suddenly realized why he felt so bad about himself for having thought of Roger as miserable. The mood lowered as the two silenced and Roger kept mouthing his apology to everyone and everything he could think of.

"Apologies won't work now." Ralph muttered incoherently. "You murdered a person."

Roger silenced.

"What is sex?" He suddenly changed the subject, his voice small and timid.

"What?"

"You were blushing when Jack talked about it."

"Roger–"

"Does it hurt?"

Now Ralph was silent.

"I heard people saying it hurts in the first time." Ralph spoke, hoping the other would not go back to asking what sex was anymore.

"If it hurts, you can venture the pain on me after that. I won't mind."

"Roger–"

"You can beat me up if you want to, or stab me, or kill me. Really, I won't mind, as long as your pain is relieved."

It only took that much for the image of a fragile, feather-light boy to play repeatedly in Ralph's mind. It made his heart ache. He was not supposed to feel that way about the boy who had murdered his friends, yet, he did.

"Why?"

"To repent my sins." The black-haired boy said simply, as if being beaten up was not something that had been haunting him. "And because you made Papa go away." He lifted his head up, facing the blond boy. "Yet.. yet I've murdered your friends. Such a bad boy, aren't I?" A heartbreaking smile plastered across his face. "But every time I close my eyes now, I see you standing over and protecting me." A drop of liquid rolled down his face. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

Something had just struck Ralph in the heart.

"That's why I feel like I have to do anything, to pay it back to you. So.. so if it hurts, just beat me, okay?"

"Roger–"

"It's okay, I can take it no matter how hard you beat me. I grew up being beaten up, remember?"

The feeling hit Ralph in the heart again, seeing that little boy smile.

 _Why?_


End file.
